Mending
by Nightwind
Summary: In which some loose ends are tied up and others are created in the wake of "What Goes Around." Will focus on a bunch of different characters and exists to be a bridge between the first story and the  huge  story arc that will eventually happen.
1. Chapter 1

_So. I wrote "What Goes Around." It was originally conceived as a wacky, vignette-y attempt at a "28 Meme" featuring a _truly_ wacky, out-of-left-field pair. Then it somehow managed not only to morph into a story with something of a plot but _also_ managed to become something that ate my brain because it allows me to do a good deal of world-building, and I like to world-build an awful lot. I do it when I poke at original stuff…but it's not always possible to do it in fanfiction. Unless one goes AU, as this is, of course. So…world-building with my favorite robots, and having fun totally thumbing my nose at anything canon while I'm doing it? Oh, yeah, baby…_

_That said, this thing will make way less than zero sense if you haven't read "What Goes Around." So if you haven't read that one, don't read this, either._

_But anyway, the story grew a continuity, which I do intend to write. In fact, I've already written some of it. But since I can't write chronologically to save my little life, most of what I've written so far takes place a fair bit into the future, although I _am_ working on the story that directly follows "What Goes Around." _

_Is this that story? Nope. Well, not exactly, anyway. This one will nudge toward the actual story arc and will hint at some things to come, but it won't actually get there. What this is meant to do is to fill in some holes, so to speak. Since "What Goes Around" greatly changed in concept over time – For one thing, it went from narrowly-focused first-person narration from two different viewpoints to the omniscience that third person narration allows – the story lacks some stuff that I wanted to know about (YMMV), but that for whatever reason I wasn't able to address within the confines of that story. Like, what the hell Wheeljack and Ratchet _really_ thought about all of this crap, for instance. Ratchet got some attention, Wheeljack…not so much. This will rectify that because it's _always_ fun to bang their heads together. I also wanted to get some "input" from some of the other characters, too, on both sides. Like the other Dinobots. And like…oh…Optimus Prime. Then there's poor, pretty little Skywarp, cooling his jets while Starscream and Thundercracker got to have all kinds of "fun." This will yank him into the storyline, although given what he has heading his way in the not-too-distant future of this continuity…Heh. (Nightwind's TF Fanfic Rule of Thumb #17: When in doubt, put the Big Hurt™ on Skywarp, if Starscream isn't available.) _

_But anyway, I'm sorry to say that this is not really meant to be a "plotty" kind of story. There is a general theme of mending (Hence, the title), but it's not really a plot kind of "story." Rather, this is meant mostly to allow me to write stuff that I would have liked to have included in "What Goes Around" but that I couldn't or decided not to include, while also nudging the overall story arc forward _maybe_ a few inches or so. But worry not! There's _plenty_ of plot on the horizon. So much of it that…Well, I haven't entirely gotten it straight in my head yet, I'm afraid. But it'll get there. In the meantime, I give you this. :)_

_

* * *

_

With a weary and drawn-out sigh, Swoop settled herself in front of her quietly-beeping comm console. She regarded the glowing Decepticon sigil that indicated the incoming call's origin for a moment, steeled herself, and then she touched the "Accept" keypad on the console…and was utterly surprised to see Starscream appear on the screen in front of her.

"Starscream!" she uttered, startled. "I thought you were Ratchet."

Starscream frowned at her.

"Last I checked," he archly informed her after a moment of exaggerated consideration. "I am not one of your father-like things. Have you figured out a convenient method of referring to them yet, by the way? Numbering them? Assigning them letters?"

"Oh, stop," she groused. And then she suddenly leaned closer to the screen, eyeing his image critically. "You look terrible," she observed bluntly.

Starscream smiled faintly.

"Thank you so much for noticing," he said wryly. "It's been a very long stretch of days, but Ratchet asked me to call for him. He said that you'd worry if he didn't check in after missing yesterday, so…I'm checking in for him before I hit the proverbial wheat."

"Hay," Swoop absently, automatically corrected; apparently, it was her destiny to, among other things, make corrections when those around her attempted weird human metaphorical aphorisms and then got them wrong.

"What?" Starscream responded, frowning.

"It's 'hay,' not 'wheat,'" Swoop answered.

"Whatever," Starscream responded, waving dismissively at her.

"Is Ratchet all right?" Swoop asked, smothering a grin.

"Perfectly fine," Starscream assured her. "Hale and hearty and grouchier than ever because my comrades are even more insane than yours are. At the moment, he's just…busy."

"Busy?" Swoop repeated.

"_Very_ busy," Starscream confirmed. "Stunticons, Skywarp, and Rumble are a literally explosive mix. So, Ratchet and Hook are spending their evening having a welding bee." At Swoop's dispirited sigh, he added, "Don't worry. No one died. They'll all be fine."

"Well, that's good, at least," she murmured. And then a thought occurred to her. "Wait, you found the Stunticons, then!" she belatedly exclaimed.

"We did," Starscream said with a tired chuckle and a nod. "That's precisely why it's been a long stretch of days and why I look so very stunning at the moment. They required a little…convincing to come into the fold, and the task is a lot harder when there's a brainless gestalt involved."

"I would imagine so," Swoop agreed quietly.

"Actually, I'm not at all certain that they _are_ really convinced," Starscream was saying meanwhile, "but…they're here, at least for the time being. Mostly because they were very low on energon and getting desperate because of it. But," he finished with a philosophical shrug, "I'll take what I can get."

Swoop nodded.

"So now all that's left are…"

"The Combaticons, yes," Starscream finished with a weary sigh. "And then we'll all be one big not-necessarily-happy family, and we can _try_ to get down to business over here. But Soundwave and his kids aren't having much luck tracking them down. The trail keeps going cold. And if _they_ can't find them, then…" Starscream shrugged as his voice trailed off. "I think they might have gone to Cybertron. I've tried contacting Shockwave a number of times to ask after them, but he's still ignoring me. Imagine that."

Swoop snorted at that.

"He's not talking to us, either," she said. "But I guess that isn't very surprising, either," she added with a sigh.

Starscream nodded.

"For all I know," he said, "your 'loving' uncle _invited_ Onslaught up there. According to Soundwave's Cybertron contacts, he's…consolidating. Gathering supplies. Stockpiling resources. And he's taking in anyone he can find, all in anticipation of…invasion."

"I have no intention of 'invading,'" Swoop answered testily, leaning back in her chair and wearily pinching the bridge of her nose, a mannerism she'd long ago picked up from Ratchet.

"_I_ know that, and _you_ know that," Starscream assured her. "But Shockwave?" He made a distinct gesture that clearly demonstrated what he thought of Shockwave's sanity. "Paranoid. Lots and _lots_ of paranoid up there. He's always been that way, but now that you're here he's apparently fifteen times worse."

"Marvelous," Swoop muttered.

"In any case," Starscream said, "we'll keep looking for the Combaticons here on Earth for a few more days. Perhaps there's a rock somewhere that we haven't turned over yet. And if we can't find them after that, we'll just have to move on without them."

Swoop nodded.

"And in the meantime," she asked, "are…people getting along over there?"

Starscream thought about that for a minute.

"Here and there…" he answered hesitantly. Then he shrugged and admitted, "Mostly not. Not yet. It's only been what? Nine days? And there are _how_ many years of issues to deal with here? There's a lot of tension, but so far there have been no severe outbursts of violence, nothing where anyone's gotten seriously damaged. Other than today, and that was all between Decepticons."

"Somehow," Swoop said with a sigh, "that doesn't make me feel a whole lot better."

"I know," Starscream answered quietly. "But bear in mind that the Stunticons, in addition being _complete_ idiots, are also young. Younger than you are, even, though not by much. They don't really understand what's happened, and they _certainly_ don't see the significance of…things. Of _you_."

"Mmm," Swoop murmured. "I suppose so."

"You might be happy to know that Slag tried to get them to stop fighting, though," Starscream offered as a measure of encouragement, after Swoop had settled into broody silence for a longer period of time than he liked.

"_Slag_?" Swoop responded, perking up a bit. "Really?"

Starscream nodded, encouraged by her response.

"Really," he confirmed. "In addition to…er, _looming_, I'm told that he said something about the disagreement being 'illogical.' I _really_ think you need to keep the lad away from Prowl." Swoop chuckled as Starscream continued, "But, so I'm told, he had Skywarp and Rumble starting to back down, and if the Stunticons weren't, as advertised, complete idiots, I think he might have entirely succeeded."

Swoop smiled faintly, fondly.

"Good for him," she said.

"And you also might be happy to know that Ratchet and the Constructicons are getting along well," Starscream continued. "Which is a relief. Frankly, I had feared an outright war in the medbay. Hook can be…a little territorial."

"So can Ratchet," Swoop answered, smiling fondly again. "It's a medic thing. But I guess in this case he's the invader."

"He is, but…Well, Hook calmed down after a few days. He can't help but appreciate and admire Ratchet's abilities, and on the rare occasions that Hook manages to admire something in someone other than himself…Well, let's just say that it goes a long way toward helping him adjust."

Swoop snorted at that.

"And once Hook or Scrapper adjusts," Starscream continued, "the others usually follow their lead like a row of ducklings. So…Better watch out. If Hook, Scrapper, and Ratchet get any chummier, and if Scavenger falls any deeper into what may actually be puppy love, then Ratchet _might_ just decide to join the gestalt."

"That would be horrible!" Swoop immediately exclaimed. "For the gestalt, I mean," she amended and Starscream, despite himself, burst out laughing at her unexpected meaning. "Seriously!" Swoop continued over his laughter. "Can you _imagine_ having _Ratchet_ in your head all the time like that?"

"It can't be much worse than having a certain Dinobot I know in my head all the time," Starscream answered once his laughter had subsided.

Swoop smirked at him.

"I'm not in your head, Starscream," she pointed out.

"Close enough!" he grumbled. "I had a dream about you the other day, you know. A really _bad_ one," he clarified.

"Good!" Swoop asserted. And then she suddenly let out a little groan, winced, and leaned back uncomfortably in her chair.

"Are you all right?" Starscream asked of her, concerned, the bantering gone in an instant. "You look terrible, too, you know," he pointed out to her.

Swoop smirked faintly at him.

"Thanks," she said sourly and then added, "I am _very_ tired, but I'm afraid that I haven't fought and won any battles with any gestalts. It's just…Junior."

"Ah," Starscream said with an understanding nod.

"It's a _little_ uncomfortable having bits and pieces of your innards suddenly yanked away to be used for entirely new purposes," Swoop complained. "I haven't gotten a whole lot of rest for the past…oh, six or eight days now. And it's only going to get worse. Yippee."

Starscream frowned, concerned.

"I could call down to Ratchet and ask him if there's—"

Swoop shook her head, simultaneously holding up a hand to interrupt him.

"Thanks, but no," she said wearily. "He'd only fret and then once he got over that, he'd just consult the same records and databases that I've already consulted. And then he'd nag me, likely hourly, for the next…what? Four-and-a-half months or so?" She leaned back wearily in her chair and heaved an irritated sigh, but she absently stroked her hand over the left side of her upper abdomen, directly her developing child, with gentleness that belied the irritation. Then she said, "I'll be all right. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right?"

Starscream looked very dubious, frowning deeply at her.

"If you're sure…" he eventually answered, hesitantly.

"I'm sure," Swoop assured him with a tired but firm nod. "And don't you _dare_ tell Ratchet that I'm not having fun at the moment," she added, wagging a warning finger at him. "Because if you do, I'll know _exactly_ who to blame for the aggravation."

Starscream sighed.

"Fine," he relented. "I won't tell him. But if you start having serious problems—"

"Ratchet will be the first to know," Swoop assured him. "Well, after _me_, of course."

"I have your word on that?" Starscream insisted.

"I swear on my great-grandmother's grave," Swoop answered solemnly. "Wherever her grave is. If she has a grave. Whatever."

Starscream snorted and then watched, still concerned, as Swoop shifted uncomfortably in her seat again.

"So what _should_ I tell Ratchet?" he asked her once she had settled herself for the moment.

"What?" Swoop asked distractedly in return, blinking at him, not following for a moment.

"I'm supposed to be checking in for him," Starscream reminded her. "That rather implies that I'll need to relay to him a status report of some sort."

"Oh!" Swoop responded. "Right. Tell him…Tell him Optimus Prime died. That'll rattle his cage."

Starscream snickered but then insisted, "Seriously."

"Seriously…" Swoop answered with a resigned and drawn-out sigh. "Everything's fine here. I'm fine. Junior's fine, if very annoying at the moment. The medbay's fine. Optimus Prime is not, in fact, dead. Even _Prowl_ is fine," she jabbed at him.

"I'm utterly overjoyed," Starscream automatically responded, deadpan.

Swoop snorted.

"One of these days," she said, "_one_ of you is going to tell me what's with you two."

"One of us one of these days, yes," Starscream agreed with an amiable-enough nod. "But not me and not today because I have a date with my berth, and I'm already late. But…"

"But?" Swoop prompted when Starscream continued to hesitate for longer than she could tolerate.

"There, uh…There is one other thing," Starscream said with very uncharacteristic reluctance.

"Yes?" Swoop rather impatiently prompted again when Starscream fell to hesitating again.

Starscream sighed exasperatedly and said, "Skywarp asked _me_ to ask _you_ to ask _Thundercracker_ to contact him. So, consider the note passed on to you. Primus, you'd think they were children or something…" he grumbled.

Swoop smiled.

"He doesn't know?" she asked.

"Skywarp?" Starscream asked. "Hah! If you ever have to place a bet on the subject, my dear, put all of your money on Skywarp _not_ knowing something."

Swoop chuckled, but she said, quietly, "Seriously."

Starscream sighed.

"Well, _I_ haven't told him anything, if that's what you mean," he answered. "It's…not my place. And I doubt that anyone here that Skywarp would talk to knows anything _to_ tell him, besides maybe Ratchet. And I'm going to take a wild leap and guess that Ratchet would sooner swan dive into a pit of boiling acid than talk about Thundercracker at the moment." Swoop smiled sadly as Starscream finished, "So I'd say that it's a safe bet that Skywarp is, as usual, _completely_ clueless. All he knows is that Thundercracker suddenly seems to prefer your company to ours, and he can't begin to fathom why that would be so."

"And it doesn't seem like Thundercracker is in any kind of hurry to enlighten him, either," Swoop observed.

Starscream snorted and said, "That's because he's usually the one _mending_ conflicts, not _starting_ them."

Swoop frowned and asked, "Why would there be a conflict?"

Starscream thought about that for a moment, and then he answered quietly and with a weary sigh, "Let's just say that Skywarp doesn't handle paradigm shifts very well. Everything having to do with you and everything that's recently happened is a big bomb that fell on him when he least expected it."

"Mmm," Swoop murmured. "I imagine so."

"So, just with that, he's…really not in the best of places, at the moment. Adding in Thundercracker's relationship to you _and_ what he did during the uprising _and_ the fact that he wasn't hanging around with us just because he's a loyal little Decepticon…Well, it just _might_ push the little darling over the edge, and I'm going to take another wild leap and guess that Thundercracker would prefer the boiling acid, too, over doing that."

Swoop thought about that, formulated a hundred questions that she knew Starscream wouldn't answer anyway so she tossed them aside, and then she said, "So you're saying that I shouldn't pass on the…uh, note?"

Starscream gave her a surprised look.

"Not at all," he said. "I think that you should _definitely_ pass it on. And I also think that you should have a nice long talk with Thundercracker, and during that nice long talk I think that you should _strongly_ _encourage_ him to do exactly as Skywarp asks."

Swoop frowned and asked, "Why?"

"Because he'll do it if _you_ tell him to," Starscream said with a shrug. "Whereas if _I_ told him to do it, he'd tell _me_ to…Well, he wouldn't comply, that's for sure."

"But if it will only cause conflict, then why—?"

"Because," Starscream answered, "they can't avoid each other, anyway. And as much as I'd like to, _I_ can't avoid _them_."

Swoop frowned, not understanding, but Starscream continued before she could launch a question.

"They just need to get their act together and work this out," he explained, "for _my_ sanity's sake and because _you'll_ be needing them. But I don't have the time to dance around and play referee for them, so they will just have to grow up and settle this themselves. And it's better that they do it sooner rather than later." Swoop opened her mouth to protest, but Starscream held up a hand at her and said, "Just…talk to Thundercracker, all right? I'm sure he'll tell you everything you want to know. Because I…really don't have the energy for this discussion tonight."

Swoop gave him a glare that lasted for a long moment, but then she sighed resignedly and said, "Fine. I'll go talk to him right now so that you can get on with that date with your berth. Maybe then you can stop looking like something Ravage dragged in."

"Thank you," Starscream answered with a tired smirk. "Good night, Swoop."

"'Night," Swoop murmured, and then she cut the connection. She leaned back in her chair for a moment and grumbled to the empty room at large, "Right. Like _I _have the energy for this discussion tonight…"

She further grumbled under her breath about being all kinds of involved with very annoying Seekers as she levered herself out of her chair and headed for the door.

* * *

_Now, I wanted to take some time (or space, as the case may be) to answer some review replies for "What Goes Around," since I like to do such replies "in public," where I can, and I assume that those who liked that story well enough to take the time to leave a comment will likely also read this one…_

_So, first of all, a general "thank you" to those of you who enjoyed the story and who took the time to say so in a review or to put it on your alerts/favorites. And to those of you who were looking forward to more in this 'verse, I hope that you will enjoy this little one and the arc that this one will lead into…which will actually go back in time, sort of…but anyway! Now, as for those who had asked some specific questions:_

_**Yoru Hana1**__: I consider this a "parallel universe" to the one I usually write in, yes, which is in turn based on/extrapolated from, but is also slightly "off" from, the canon G1 cartoon 'verse. So, what happens in my other stories can _generally_ be considered background to this 'verse, as well. There are some obvious exceptions, though. For instance, in that 'verse, I pair Slag and Swoop. That is obviously not the case in this one, unless I decide to be _really_ weird…but so far Brain has not gone there. And, honestly, I sincerely hope that Brain doesn't go there because there's already quite enough weird in this 'verse, as far as I'm concerned. And in general I pair Prowl and Jazz, but they _definitely_ aren't and won't be a pair in this 'verse. (I have much eviler things to do with poor Prowl, I'm afraid.) And, as I said in the notes for "What Goes Around," I have done away with Skyfire for this 'verse because…Well, quite frankly, because if he was around, Brain probably _would_ do very weird things. So, those are the major differences, at least that I know of and that I can think of at this moment in time._

_**Thornwitch:**__ *laughs* The summary for the story is rather vague because, honestly, when I started to post it, it wasn't completely done. The ending and some of the middle details hadn't been determined/written, and I wasn't 100% sure where it was ultimately going to go. In the end, it went off in a direction that I hadn't imagined because it spawned its own continuity, and over time I wrote about eight different endings before I settled on the direction that I wanted. So, it's probably a good thing that I wasn't more specific. Now that the story's done and my overall direction is clearer to me, I'll give thought to revising the summary for the story. Thank you for the reminder. :)_

_For your other question: Hmmmmm…Other queens in other places is an interesting notion, now that you mention it. My own thinking was simply that there would only be one per generation in the entire species, and once that generation had its "chosen," the others would be out of luck. (Or in luck, depending on how you look at things. As in someone thinking, "Thank Primus it's her and not me! YAY!") However, I wasn't thinking on a galaxy-wide scale, only on a Cybertron scale. So, if removed from Cybertron, like new queen ants on a nuptial flight, who then start a new colony some distance away, then… There are possibilities there. Interesting ones, even, especially if I were to carry the ant analogy forward. (i.e. New ant colonies are pretty much always mutual enemies with the original one, which would be an interesting notion…) _

_But anyway, that aside… Well, looking at the cartoon, which is always my reference point, there is at least one planet, Paradron (Paratron? Whatever…), that is inhabited by Transformers but that was apparently not, shall we say, "seeded" by the Quintessons. Its population had to come from _somewhere, _and then it had to be sustained, eh? :) And the animated movie briefly showed us another planet of robots…its name frankly escapes me at the moment, and I'm too lazy to look it up…which Unicron then ate, although whether or not those robots were of Cybertronian origin or were a different "species" was never made clear. And of course, in the 'toon, Rodimus Prime done blowed up Paradron real good (Thus proving that, despite being a whiner at times, he has _much_ bigger balls than Optimus…but that's another story), but since this _is_ an AU…Hmmmmm. I shall bear the thought in mind. Who knows what it might spawn? :) (And of course, if it _does_ spawn something, I shall give you all credit for sticking the ant in my ear, so to speak. ;) )_


	2. Chapter 2

_Mrfph. I suppose that I should warn that this will introduce an aspect of "slash" into this 'verse. It's really not something I'm focusing on in this 'verse at all, but in this one particular case, I need to have that kind of relationship between the characters involved, for future evil purposes, the poor dears. So, yeah. Warned. But at least in this case there's what I think is a good reason for the relationship, so maybe that will have a mitigating effect if "slash" makes you ooky or just makes you roll your eyes. And hey, at least there's no "sex" in this story at all, so you can take comfort in that. :)_

_Anyway, onward._

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It wasn't hard to find Thundercracker. Once he'd recovered from the damage that had been inflicted upon him after he and Swoop had been caught together by Megatron, he'd been given guest quarters. He'd more or less stayed there since, only occasionally escorted to a conference room to be debriefed. Other than that, he was left more or less alone. Of course, there were guards posted outside, and they were there partly to keep an eye on Thundercracker, but mostly they were there to protect him, if necessary. Some of the Autobots had vindictive streaks a mile wide, and they held on to grudges as if they were priceless treasures.

Prowl visited Thundercracker on occasion. Swoop knew this because he'd been there a few times when she had arrived, and sometimes he'd stayed for a while after she'd arrived, talking with Thundercracker about old times while Swoop had listened quietly, avidly absorbing the information that their conversation revealed. Thundercracker had told her that Wheeljack had also made an awkward attempt or two to talk to him, which surprised Swoop to no end. Still, she was glad that Wheeljack was making the effort, and she knew that it wasn't easy for him.

Everyone else, quite understandably, didn't know quite what to make of Thundercracker. They'd been told about his relationship to Swoop, and because of that relationship they'd been ordered to consider him a guest and to treat him accordingly. They generally didn't know what to make of the former piece of information, just as many of them still didn't know what to make of Swoop herself. To date, Thundercracker had not left the quarters unless his presence had been requested somewhere, and when that had happened he'd been escorted to wherever he'd been summoned, so the Autobots in general had not had much of a chance to treat him like anything. Swoop suspected that many of them, especially those who were narrowly focused on work like the scientists or those with notably short attention spans and no discernible vindictive streak, had entirely forgotten that he was there.

Of course, Swoop visited at least once a day. Partly, her visits were in her capacity as a medic, but mostly she visited simply because she wanted to visit. They'd share some of the high quality energon that was a perk of her condition, and they'd talk, sometimes for hours. Things had been awkward between them at first, neither knowing exactly what to make of the other at all, but as the days had passed they had quickly become strangely comfortable with each other. This was partly because Swoop had a way of talking to people that put them at ease, but it was mostly because Thundercracker had been hoping to have the opportunity to know her for thousands of years, and that quickly overcame the awkwardness. On top of that, her avid curiosity, about everything, both delighted him and painfully reminded him of her mother.

Swoop asked Thundercracker dozens of questions about him and about his life and about her family, and Thundercracker had found himself all too happy to answer all of them that he could answer. He'd told her all sorts of things about her family, about her mother and her siblings. Funny things. Mundane, boring, daily-life things. Happy things, and even some very sad things. They were the kinds of things that Mirage wasn't comfortable talking to her about because, even after thousands of years, it angered and saddened him even to think about them, much less to express them in words. Swoop had quickly come to realize that Mirage was clinging so desperately to the past that it was almost as if it was the present to him, as if he was still living it and how it had ended every day. It was all immediate and real and still very hurtful to him, a wound that gaped and wouldn't stop bleeding. Thundercracker had no such problem. So now, thanks to him, Swoop knew many odd little things, small and sometimes silly details about her long-dead family that made them seem far more real to her than they had seemed before, almost alive.

Swoop knew what her mother's favorite color had been. ("Blue, strangely enough," Thundercracker had told her with a fond, reminiscent chuckle and a small and almost affectionate smile.) She knew that her mother had been very fond of dancing and that she had often been observed dancing in a very undignified manner down the corridors. She had acquired a decent amount of very embarrassing blackmail material to use against Mirage, should she ever find herself needing some. She knew that her sister who had been closest to her in age had liked to pretend that she was her mother, that she had carefully tended to her, that she had imperiously insisted that Swoop be housed in her own suite, and that she had lovingly carried her around everywhere. She knew that one of her brothers had been a notorious prankster and that he had found a kindred spirit in one Sideswipe, who was supposed to be keeping him out of trouble but who was far more often his unabashed partner in crime. And Swoop knew that her eldest sister had had a galaxy-sized crush on Starscream, which Swoop thought was wickedly funny.

And Swoop was now fairly certain that, for all that he often spoke very bitterly of her now, Thundercracker had cared for her mother very deeply. Perhaps, he had even been in love with her, even if only reluctantly. Swoop imagined that it would be difficult to be that bitter about someone for whom one hadn't once felt very strongly.

And as a result of all of it, of everything that Thundercracker had told her, Swoop felt far more connected to her family, all of them, than she had felt before. She felt so connected to them that she had found herself, just a few days before, mourning them terribly, all of them. It was almost as if she had really known them and that they'd been killed that day rather than thousands of years before, and as odd as it had seemed to others when she had told them about it, Swoop considered the mourning to be a good thing.

Swoop, in turn, had caught Thundercracker up on her life. Given that her life so far had been very brief, doing so wouldn't have taken very long except that Thundercracker seemed interested in _everything _about her, down to the tiniest mundane details of her daily life.

So, Swoop had come to look forward to their daily visits. And now they might be ending, at least for a little while. As much as she didn't want him to leave, Swoop was determined that if leaving, that if patching up whatever the problem was with his wingmate was the best thing for Thundercracker, then that was _exactly_ what she was going to encourage him to do.

Now, she approached the door to Thundercracker's quarters, nodded absently at the two guards, and then pressed the chime. She heard Thundercracker tell her to come in, and then she pressed the button that opened the door and stepped inside. Thundercracker was sprawled across a chair, datapad that he had been reading in hand, but his attention was immediately on her.

"So," she said to him without preamble. "Are you interested in getting the hell out of here for a while?"

Thundercracker just continued to look at her, frowning at the unexpected question she'd asked.

"I'm feeling antsy," Swoop further explained when he continued to frown silently and quizzically at her. "And I don't know how much longer I'll want to fly. And if I'm going to go out, I need a bodyguard or else certain individuals around here will pitch a hissy-fit. And…I want to show you something. It's not too far away, at least not as the pterosaur flies," she added with a shrug.

Thundercracker smiled at her, put the datapad aside, and then said, "Sure."

* * *

Thundercracker had to admit that the sight, for all that it was organic and alien, was absolutely breathtaking. He and Swoop were standing on a precipice, on a rather narrow outcropping of rock halfway up a cliff somewhere in the wilds of Venezuela. Across the way, close enough to see it in some detail, but far enough away that the sound of it was a ceaseless but low rumble rather than a deafening roar, was a very tall waterfall. It erupted violently through a rather narrow fissure in the rock on the edge of the opposite cliff and then fell in a thick veil of frothy white, its downward path clothed in verdant vegetation that greedily fed on the heavy localized humidity that the waterfall generated. The waterfall was tall enough that some of the water feathered to a thick vapor as it fell, and it was catching the evening light and creating intense prismatic streaks of color.

"Pretty, huh?" Swoop, standing next to Thundercracker, remarked quietly.

"That's…an understatement," Thundercracker answered. "Especially because it's just water."

Swoop chuckled and said, "Water is pretty amazing stuff when it wants to be, you know. When it's falling like that, I find the sight and the sound quite absorbing, so I like to come here to think. I thought you might appreciate that aspect," she added.

Thundercracker smiled at her faintly.

"Thanks for pointing it out to me," he said. "I'll remember it." He hesitated for a moment, watching her as she fidgeted slightly, knowing that something was on her mind, and then he added, "But I get the feeling that you didn't bring me here just to look at the pretty."

Swoop sighed.

"I'm that obvious?" she asked, disappointed.

"Well, it's not necessarily a _bad_ trait to have, you know," Thundercracker pointed out. "Think of it as…facilitating clear communication."

"Mmmm," Swoop murmured ruefully. "_Too_ clear. But now that you mention it, 'communication' _is_ why I wanted to talk to you in a place that was guaranteed to be private." At Thundercracker's quizzical frown, she explained, "I talked to Starscream just before I came to see you."

"Oh," Thundercracker murmured. "And how are things going over there?" he asked.

Swoop shrugged and answered, "About as well as can be expected."

"That bad?" Thundercracker archly surmised.

Swoop chuckled and said, "Well, at least no one has died."

"Yet," Thundercracker added pessimistically, and Swoop turned toward him to punch him lightly in the arm.

"Have a little faith!" she protested.

"In Starscream?" Thundercracker scoffed with a snort. "Hah! I'll leave that to you."

"Thanks," she answered sourly. "But in any case…Starscream asked me to relay a message to you. One from Skywarp, that is, not from him."

And Thundercracker winced.

"He just wants you to talk to him," Swoop said quietly. "That's all."

"Mmmm," Thundercracker answered. "That's all." He walked a few paces away, along the edge of the outcropping, before he turned back to Swoop. "It's…not as easy as that."

"I don't understand why not," Swoop confessed truthfully.

Thundercracker gave her an indecipherable look for a long moment. And then his shoulders slumped and he heaved a long and weary sigh. And suddenly, Swoop found herself experiencing a flash of insight, putting together what had been said when she and Thundercracker had been caught by Megatron, what Starscream had said to her when they'd just talked, and what she was witnessing now, watching Thundercracker's body language.

"You're…close, aren't you?" Swoop asked quietly. Thundercracker gave her another uncertain look but remained silent, so she continued, "It's not that hard to see, you know. You wouldn't leave Decepticon Headquarters because of him when I offered you asylum. When Megatron was trying to convince you to talk about me, he threatened him, specifically. And Skywarp's upset because you haven't contacted him since you went off to see me, upset enough to ask a favor of _Starscream_, and I know from Starscream that they don't get along all that well. Yet it _didn't_ seem as if Skywarp was upset when Starscream himself left, so I know it's not a trine thing, and—"

Thundercracker snorted at that, interrupting her reasoning, and he corrected her bitterly, "Oh, it's _very much_ a 'trine thing,' Swoop," At the confused look that she gave him, he amended, "But…probably not in the way that you're thinking. I mean, I don't even know what you know about trines."

"I know that you're linked," Swoop answered with a shrug. "I understand how it's done, in a clinical sense. I know that the link allows you to, among other things, communicate more efficiently, in order to be more coordinated and effective in combat and such, and I'm rather intimately familiar with the advantage that that gives you." Thundercracker smiled slightly sheepishly at that as Swoop continued, "And I know…Well, that is, I _imagine_ that it's inevitable that it would create a certain level of…intimacy, too. In a sense, I have a link to Starscream, so I can understand that aspect in particular."

"Mmmm," Thundercracker murmured. "And _that_, my dear daughter, is ironic, indeed."

"It's ironic that I can understand?" Swoop asked, frowning quizzically.

"No," Thundercracker clarified, shaking his head slightly. "No, it's ironic that you have such a link to Starscream."

Swoop was still frowning.

"I don't see the irony," she announced after a moment's thought. "I mean, you and Skywarp have a link to him, too, so why…?"

Thundercracker snorted again as Swoop's voice trailed off. He paced a few strides away from Swoop again, thinking as he went, and then he turned back to her. He folded his arms across his chest, watching her appraisingly for a moment, taking in her befuddled expression.

"Yes, we do have a link to him," he said quietly but bitterly, "but you'd hardly know it. And that's because that's how Starscream wants it." In response, Swoop only shook her head at him uncertainly, so he explained, "Seekers crave the link. We tend to feel…incomplete without one."

Swoop nodded. This, she knew and understood.

"But Starscream," Thundercracker continued, "is an anomaly, as he is in many other ways, in that he _doesn't_ crave a link and never has. At all. He would have been _very_ happy to remain alone his entire life. That was, in fact, his plan. The rest of us always saw him as a bit bizarre because of that."

"But he _is_ linked," Swoop pointed out as Thundercracker's voice trailed off, still not understanding.

Thundercracker smiled faintly and said, "Yes, but that's a relatively recent development."

Swoop stared at him.

"I…didn't know that," she said.

"Skywarp and I have been linked for a very long time," Thundercracker said with a shrug. "Longer than I want to think about, really. But for the vast majority of that time, our third was not Starscream."

"Oh," Swoop said, nonplussed and blinking. "I…I guess I just always assumed that you and Starscream and Skywarp had been a trine forever."

Thundercracker grimaced, and answered, "That's not surprising. We _do_ work very well together. In combat, that is. We're good at that. It's 'only' in every other possible aspect of existence that we're a _complete_ mess. I suppose it's because we were thrown together. Abruptly."

"And not by choice," Swoop surmised.

"No, not by choice," Thundercracker answered quietly. "Not really, anyway."

Swoop leaned back against the rock behind her for a few moments, staring at the waterfall and thinking.

"You and Skywarp lost your original third," she eventually said.

"Yes," Thundercracker murmured. "And as you might imagine, it's a…traumatic experience. It's as if a piece of your being is suddenly gone, and all that's left in that place where he used to be is this black hole that wants to suck you in, too. It makes the survivors rather…useless. Before the uprising, when we had a means of replenishing the population, such individuals were usually disposed of if they didn't more or less immediately find a replacement or just go ahead and immediately dispose of themselves. Often… Well, often your mother made use of them as gladiators. It killed two birds with one stone, you see, getting rid of useless Seekers while also providing amusement."

Swoop winced.

"But this was after the uprising," she interpreted as she tried to put aside that rather disappointing nugget of information about her mother.

"Yes," Thundercracker confirmed. "It was not long after Prowl defected, actually…which I suppose is significant."

Swoop narrowed her eyes at that additional nugget of information, but she said nothing, and Thundercracker didn't offer any details.

"Skywarp and I were in a state of uselessness," he was saying instead, "which was a dangerous proposition even after the uprising because resources were scarce and were not to be wasted on the useless. Yet, Megatron was also in a position where he needed as many warriors as he could get because the uprising had taken its toll both in terms of casualties and because not every warrior had chosen to follow him in the long term, once the uprising was over. So, he didn't necessarily want to dispose of us, either. The obvious solution to the problem at hand, then…was to find us a third."

"Starscream," Swoop said flatly.

"Yes," Thundercracker answered. "Megatron had until then always respected his preference to remain alone. But things were rapidly destabilizing between them, and the situation worsened quickly once Prowl was gone and…Well, ultimately, Starscream was given a choice: Link with Skywarp and me, or all three of us would be destroyed."

Swoop gaped at him.

"But that's no choice at all!" she protested indignantly.

Thundercracker shrugged.

"Like I said, not really," he said. "But Starscream naturally chose the course of action that saved his own hide, and he's regretted it ever since. So, he tries to pretend that we don't exist, and I don't know how he manages it, but aside from combat situations, it's like he isn't there. It's like not having a third at all, yet without the black hole and the uselessness. The link is _there_, but it's like being linked to a rock. But now… Well, now Starscream's had a link imposed on him that he can't possibly ignore. I'd almost consider it poetic justice," Thundercracker finished, "if you weren't the one that he was linked to."

Swoop smiled slightly and said, "I know you don't want to hear this, but…it's not so bad, really." Thundercracker snorted explosively as she added, "Well, at least I see the irony now. And…I can also understand now why you didn't want to leave Decepticon Headquarters."

Thundercracker nodded.

"Yes," he said, almost morosely. "Starscream isn't pulling his weight, so to speak. He flatly refuses to do so. So there is imbalance in the link, a very strong skew. The link between Skywarp and me is not counterbalanced, and so over the years it has become…very strong. Stronger than it's supposed to be, if you know what I mean."

"And now he's alone," Swoop said quietly but pointedly. Thundercracker winced at her words, and Swoop added. "And you were lying when you told Megatron that he meant nothing to you."

Thundercracker smiled faintly and confessed, "Through my teeth. It's perhaps the one occasionally useful skill I've learned from Starscream. But yes, Skywarp means much to me. Everything, really, outside of what you mean to me."

Swoop regarded him seriously, sympathetically, and then she quietly observed, "Then…I _really_ don't understand why you're avoiding him now."

Thundercracker sighed. He sat down on the lip of the precipice, staring at the waterfall, almost mesmerized by it. Swoop watched him, saying nothing.

"For a long time," Thundercracker eventually said, very quietly, "but especially so since our revival here on Earth, Skywarp's wanted to just go ahead, chuck tradition and quite possibly common sense and maybe even sanity, and bond. I've always had to refuse him."

Swoop was puzzled for a moment, but then she realized, "Because of the situation surrounding me. If you'd bonded, he would've been able to find out about it."

"Exactly," Thundercracker answered with a nod. "And he would not have reacted well, especially not if he'd found out about it _that_ way. But now, aside from the fact that he might be furious with me if I were to tell him the truth, there's really no barrier in our way. Megatron's gone. I've found you, and you're public knowledge. I don't have to hide what I did anymore."

"But those are all _good_ things," Swoop pointed out. She moved toward him then, sat down next to him, and then looked anxiously up at his face. "Aren't they?" she added hesitantly, uncertainly.

"Of course!" Thundercracker reassured her, reaching over to pat her leg. "Of course they are, my dear. But…it also means that Skywarp will discover that I've been lying to him for a _very_ long time. He'll find out that, even though we've been linked and very close for so long, he really doesn't know me at all, at least not like he thinks he does."

"And you're afraid that he'll reject you," Swoop interpreted quietly, "once he knows the truth."

"Yes," Thundercracker answered even more quietly. "On the other hand, I'm also afraid that he _won't_ reject me once he knows the truth."

Swoop's brow furrowed and she said, "I don't understand."

"_He_ wants to bond. I'm…not so sure that _I_ do."

"But I thought that—?"

"That he means everything to me," Thundercracker finished. "Yes, he does. Absolutely. But…I've already experienced losing someone to whom I was linked, and it very nearly destroyed me. If I were to lose someone to whom I was _bonded_…" He shuddered. "Always before, I had an excuse. But now, if he doesn't simply want nothing to do with me due to all the lies…I'll have no excuse to offer him. And then…"

Silence stretched between them for a while after Thundercracker's voice trailed off.

"I guess," Swoop quietly, eventually, said, "that if it comes to that, you'll just have to decide whether or not the potential benefits outweigh that one risk. But first things first. Either way," she pointed out, "Skywarp deserves to know the truth. You can't leave him in limbo like this."

"I know, I know," Thundercracker murmured. "But I don't want to hurt him."

"You're _already_ hurting him. _And_ yourself," Swoop relentlessly pointed out. Thundercracker whipped his head around to stare wide-eyed at her while she elaborated evenly, "Avoiding him is quite obviously hurting him. And frankly, I don't know about Skywarp, but _I'd_ rather be hurt because someone told me the truth rather than be hurt for some unknowable reason. If I knew the truth, sure it'd hurt, but I'd be able to deal with it, and more importantly I'd know that there'd be an _end_ to the hurt at some point in time. But in the other case, the hurt would just go on and on, possibly forever, and _that_ would be far more devastating."

Thundercracker frowned thoughtfully at Swoop for a few long moments blinking at her.

"How did you get to be so wise?" he eventually asked of her.

Swoop shrugged.

"Must be something I inherited," she said with a lop-sided smile.

Thundercracker snorted.

"Not from me, you didn't," he said. "And it's safe to say that your mother wasn't the wisest individual in the universe, so…"

"So that leaves random mutation," Swoop concluded with a nod. "And that means that there's hope for the little one here," she said as she fondly patted herself, "since Primus knows his father wasn't among the universe's wisest individuals, either."

"That's an understatement, too," Thundercracker muttered.

"I'm very good at them," Swoop said with a shrug and a smile. For a moment, she just watched Thundercracker, watched him meditatively watching the waterfall. And then she said, quietly, "Talk to him. Face-to-face, not over the comm. Sit down with him and settle things, for better or worse. Otherwise, this is going to drive you _both_ crazy." When Thundercracker didn't say anything for a long while, she added, "You _know_ I'm right."

Thundercracker heaved a heavy and very weary sigh.

"Yes, you are," he said quietly, simply, resignedly. "I'll leave in the morning."

Swoop smiled. Impulsively, she turned toward him, leaned into him, and then kissed his cheek affectionately.

"It'll all work out," she assured him confidently, as Thundercracker, surprised at the kiss, sharply turned his head toward her. "You'll see."

Thundercracker offered up a quick prayer that she was right in that, and then he and Swoop settled in to silently and contemplatively watch the waterfall until full, moonless night fell and there was nothing left to see.


	3. Chapter 3

_Grgh. Nothing profound to say. I just wanted to say thanks to those who've read and reviewed, and that I do want to do some review replies, but...Mrgh. But, I SO owe you a PM, Vivienne Grainger, for many reasons. I'll get to it soon, I swear! :D _

_But in the meantime, onward. I had no intention of involving Starscream any further in this "story." But...What can I say? He's a brat and an attention whore. *laughs* Besides, I decided that some things needed to be said between him and Thundercracker, so here you go...  
_

* * *

Unexpectedly, Starscream met Thundercracker in the docking bay. Thundercracker gave him an odd look as he transformed and landed.

"I thought you might appreciate a bit of a briefing about what you're in for," Starscream said, explaining his unexpected presence without Thundercracker having to ask.

Thundercracker nodded expressionlessly and then asked, "How is he?"

Starscream shrugged mildly and then turned toward the docking bay doors. He began to walk toward them, knowing that Thundercracker would follow him.

"He's reeling," he reported, matter-of-fact, as Thundercracker fell into step with him. "Like everyone else."

"Except you," Thundercracker observed dryly.

"Except me," Starscream agreed with an amiable nod. "And except you, so far as I can tell. But with him…You really should have talked to him before now. Delaying only made things worse."

Thundercracker sighed, and he answered irritably, "You know, I really didn't come here to be lectured by _you_. In fact, I didn't come here to see _you_ at all."

"I know that," Starscream answered coolly. "And I'm not lecturing you. I'm…informing you. I'm _informing_ you that Skywarp's had several weeks to just _think_ about things, and that that's _all_ that he's been doing. And you know how very good he is at thinking, in general. And in this case it's so much the worse because he's been Skywarp-thinking without having any actual facts to draw from."

Thundercracker snorted at that.

"_You_ could have told him something," he peevishly pointed out.

Starscream gave Thundercracker a sideways glare, and he answered, "I am _not_ getting in the middle of this. I have enough things to deal with. Besides which…I think that he should hear all of it from you, not from me."

Thundercracker sighed.

"You're right," he admitted.

"Of course I am!" Starscream scoffed, and Thundercracker snorted again. "In any case, he's been Skywarp-thinking for weeks now, and he's not himself. At all. He's quiet, for one thing."

"Quiet?" Thundercracker echoed, bewildered

"Mm-hmm," Starscream confirmed. "Other than when he brought himself to ask me to talk to Swoop about you contacting him, I don't think he's said fifty words in the ten days since I've been back here, and that's _including_ saying 'yes,' 'no,' or 'whatever' when asked a direct question."

"So he's…not angry?" Thundercracker asked hesitantly. He had expected fury. He could deal with a furious Skywarp. He'd dealt with a furious Skywarp many times in the past, and he knew exactly what to do to settle down a furious Skywarp and then douse the flames. But a quiet and possibly morose Skywarp was new, uncomfortably new, the very concept fraught with the unknown.

Starscream snorted, meanwhile.

"I imagine that he _was_ angry. _Weeks_ ago," he said pointedly. "Maybe on some level he still is, and _maybe_ that's why he chose to pick a fight with the Stunticons the other day, so _maybe_ that means there's still some hope. Because otherwise there's just a very creepy silence and an even creepier listlessness. I don't envy you."

Thundercracker sighed again.

"Great," he muttered.

"Like I said, delaying—" Starscream began.

"Like _I_ said," Thundercracker interrupted him gruffly, "I'm not here to be lectured."

"Fine," Starscream snipped. "I don't envy you…but I certainly don't _sympathize_ with you, either, you know. You brought this on yourself. In all sorts of ways."

And Thundercracker suddenly veered off-course, turning toward Starscream, colliding with him, and then shoving him up against a bulkhead before he had time to react.

"_Don't_ go there," Thundercracker snarled threateningly into Starscream's face before Starscream could say anything. "Don't _pretend_ to be all angelic and blameless. Because I am _not_ in the mood to hear it, understand?"

Starscream scowled and struggled a bit against Thundercracker's hold on him. That only prompted Thundercracker to press him more firmly, uncomfortably firmly, against the bulkhead, so he subsided for the moment. He glared at Thundercracker and answered, calmly, "It's not _my_ fault that you—"

"What part of 'not in the mood to hear it' did you not understand?" Thundercracker snarled again, thumping Starscream's back against the wall once, and not gently, for good measure. "If it weren't for your weirdness," he growled before Starscream could answer, "then he and I wouldn't be in this situation at all. So _I'd_ say that it's partly very much _your_ fault."

And then Thundercracker waited for the excuses, the habitual lies, and the fervent protestations of blameless innocence to spew out of Starscream like an exploding geyser. But they didn't come. Instead, Starscream merely looked at Thundercracker, his expression suddenly and oddly thoughtful. He nodded to himself and he said, very quietly, "You're right."

Thundercracker, shocked by the admission, quickly stepped away from Starscream. He blinked at him and he answered, almost dazed, "I am?"

Starscream snorted and pushed himself away from the bulkhead. His expression was vastly annoyed, but he said, still very quietly, "Yes. You are. I can't say that I'm at all happy about it, mind you, but…you are."

And then, before Thundercracker could think of anything at all to say in response, Starscream was moving again, striding purposefully down the corridor, his pace not at all the leisurely stroll that it had previously been. Thundercracker stared at his back for a few moments before shaking himself and then hurrying to catch up with him.

"I've had cause to…do some self-examination lately," Starscream explained once Thundercracker had fallen into step with him but before he could say anything. "A certain individual who shall remain nameless but who occasionally fancies herself something of a psychiatrist has informed me that doing so is good for me."

"And she can be very persuasive," Thundercracker said gravely, with a knowing nod.

"You noticed that, did you?" Starscream agreed, also with a nod.

"Oh, yes," Thundercracker answered ruefully.

"Well, persuasive or not…she was right," Starscream admitted. "Examining myself has made me realize some…things. Things that I might be wise to change." He stopped again suddenly then, and he turned to regard Thundercracker, who was in turn giving Starscream a silent but very odd look. And Starscream finished pointedly, his voice lowered as if he was afraid that someone might overhear what he said, "But _some_ things I simply can't change. Some things I couldn't change even if I _wanted_ to change them. Some things are just…what I am."

Thundercracker bit his lip as he thought about what Starscream had said and its implications. They began to walk again silently, side by side, and they walked that way for quite a while before Thundercracker finished thinking and spoke up again.

"It's all right, you know," he offered quietly. "All things considered, it's not a bad place to be." As Starscream turned his head to give him an odd, possibly surprised, look, Thundercracker amended with a shrug, "It's not _ideal_, certainly, but…it's not bad, either."

Starscream nodded slowly, acknowledging the half-hearted forgiveness behind his wingmate's words. He smiled slightly and said with quiet reluctance, "I…hope that this doesn't break you. Either of you. Both of you."

Thundercracker shrugged again, and he said with far more confidence than he felt, "We'll work it out. We've had _how_ many years of practice now?"

"Far too many," Starscream answered with a wry half-smile. "Just…be careful."

Thundercracker half-smiled, too, as he said, "Always."

They walked along in comfortable silence after that, slowly heading toward the section of Decepticon Headquarters where the living quarters were situated. After a few moments of companionable-enough progress, Thundercracker began to feel uneasy, and he knew that it was because Starscream had spoken of Swoop. It wasn't the fact that he had spoken of her in general that was troubling Thundercracker so much as it was the _way_ that he had spoken of her, the tone of his voice and the expressions that had crossed his face. He'd spoken of her casually. With familiarity. With, almost worst of all, rather obvious fondness.

Thundercracker had at first tried valiantly to put the two of them out of his mind. When that had failed, he'd tried to convince himself that theirs was just a business relationship of a very strange sort, that it was a necessary but otherwise impersonal sort of arrangement, with absolutely no emotional attachments on either side. He'd been able to convince himself of all of that fairly easily…until he'd seen the way that Starscream had kissed Swoop, possessively and very passionately and in full view of everyone, when he'd left for Decepticon Headquarters. Until he'd seen the look on Swoop's face as she'd watched him fly off into the clear desert sky and the way that she had wistfully stared after him, long after she couldn't actually see him anymore. Until he'd observed, in the days that had followed, how she would sometimes fall into staring off into space, and he'd known exactly what – or rather, exactly about whom – she had been thinking. And until she'd gone and confirmed it herself, out loud, when she'd told him that she didn't mind the 'link' that she shared with Starscream.

It was troubling, and perhaps the most troubling thing about it was that Thundercracker knew, deep down, that he had no right to be troubled by the situation. He knew that Swoop was her own person and that she was entirely capable of making her own decisions. He knew that he had missed out on her entire life so far and that she could do with the rest of it exactly as she pleased. He knew that he was in no position to be judgmental of her and that in any case he wasn't "supposed" to feel any attachment to her at all. Nothing that she did or said or felt for anyone else should trouble him in the slightest. He knew all of these things. Intellectually, he knew them.

But he also knew that he had a weirdness just as much as Starscream did. His was that he was attached to Swoop when he wasn't supposed to be. He had felt very strongly attached to her since before she'd been born the first time around. He'd tried to put the attachment aside, but he hadn't been able to do so at all. That inability on his part had been the driving force behind all that had happened with her, which in turn had set off the extremely improbable chain of events that had ultimately led to the current situation that they all faced, including Starscream. So in a way, Thundercracker was fully aware that the attachment between Starscream and Swoop was strangely, ultimately, and entirely his own fault. His own weirdness had much more far-reaching effects than Starscream's could ever have, and Swoop and Starscream were both casualties of it. He acknowledged that it was wrong of him to hold that against them. _Either_ of them.

On the other hand, Thundercracker unfortunately knew Starscream very well. He knew how he could and happily would use people, about how he'd lie to them and lie about his motivations, all as easily and sometimes every bit as often as he breathed. He knew that Starscream had a talent for ingratiating himself with others. He knew that he habitually used the individuals that he charmed and sweet-talked to further his own aims, and that when they were no longer useful to him, he casually discarded them without the slightest qualm and without a single backward glance. It was true that Starscream had just surprised him with his spate of self-examination and his little confession about the effects of his weirdness…but it was also true that Starscream had been known to make just such carefully-constructed and carefully-timed confessions on occasion, whenever it suited his purposes and furthered his aims to do so.

Thundercracker found that he could not tolerate the notion of Starscream using Swoop. He could not tolerate the notion of anyone, but especially not Starscream, hurting her in any way. The fact that Starscream might be willing to do exactly that, that he might even be planning to do so, was tearing at Thundercracker mercilessly and had been doing so for weeks. The thought of it was robbing him of peace and inhibiting his efforts to move on with a life that was suddenly on an entirely different course than the one it had followed for thousands of years.

And so Thundercracker kept giving Starscream surreptitious looks now, as if he believed that he could ascertain what was really going on in Starscream's processors just by doing so, as if Starscream would be stupid enough to allow his true intentions and motivations to show plainly on his face or in his body language or in _anything_ that Thundercracker could see and read. Thundercracker knew that his effort to ascertain Starscream's true thinking and his true motivations was entirely futile, that Starscream was a master of deception, of lies, of misdirection, of talking but saying nothing. Most of all, he was a master of adroitly concealing _anything_ real about himself. Still, Thundercracker kept glancing furtively at him anyway. He couldn't seem to help himself.

After noticing a dozen or so such probing and speculative sideways glances that Thundercracker aimed at him, Starscream stopped in his tracks and huffed a demanding, "What?" at him.

Thundercracker stopped with him, deliberated for a moment…but then he demurred in a mutter, "It's nothing."

"It's not 'nothing,'" Starscream insisted. "I _know_ what's bothering you, so stop giving me looks and just _say_ it."

Thundercracker glared at him, deliberated some more, and then grumbled, "Fine. Yes, I'm having difficulty with the whole concept of you and Swoop. All right? Happy now?"

Starscream didn't answer. He just started walking again, slowly. His expression was a thoughtful one, and once Thundercracker fell into step with him again, he said, very quietly, "Neither of us had any choice in the matter, you know."

"I know," Thundercracker answered evenly and just as quietly. "Believe me, I know exactly what it does to you. But…it happens, and then it goes away. You go your separate ways. It doesn't _not_ go away, and you certainly don't develop any kind of…of _relationship_ because of it."

Starscream heaved a light little sigh, and with an enigmatic little smile he murmured, "So they tell me."

And this time it was Thundercracker who stopped in his tracks. He gave Starscream a narrow-eyed, searching, penetrating look, and then he accused, very unhappily, "You are enjoying this _far_ too much."

Starscream scowled back at him, his own eyes narrowed peevishly.

"Would you prefer that I _not_ care about her, then?" he asked pointedly. "Would you feel better if I viewed being with her as a loathsome chore and then treated her accordingly? Would you be _happier_ if I resented the entire situation and then took out my resentment of it on her on a regular basis?"

Thundercracker blinked, taken aback. Starscream's tone was not one that he'd heard from him often. It was sincere in a very annoyed sort of way, as if he truly wished that he could simply not care about Swoop, as if he wished that he could resent her. Somehow, that made his words, the words of a known consummate master of lies, ring suddenly very true to Thundercracker.

He answered, somewhat lamely, "Well…no."

"Well," Starscream answered with a satisfied nod as he started to walk again. "There you are, then."

They walked on in silence for a while, and Thundercracker found himself chewing on what Starscream had said and how he had said it. When he stopped walking again, frowning in thought, Starscream made an exasperated noise and halted as well.

"So…" Thundercracker ventured hesitantly, "you…care…about her, then? Truly?"

"Well, of course I do, stupid!" Starscream answered. "Without her, we're a doomed species." And then he tried to move on, but Thundercracker reached out with lightning quickness and grabbed his arm, restraining him and then pulling him closer so that he could lower his voice when he spoke.

"That's not what I meant," he said quietly, not letting go of Starscream's arm. "And you know it."

Starscream scowled at his wingmate for a long moment, giving the black hand that was tightly clutching his arm a very displeased look that didn't faze Thundercracker in the slightest. And then he heaved a long and weary sigh.

"Your daughter," Starscream informed Thundercracker, "is an amazing individual. Frankly, I give Wheeljack all the credit for that, because I know that it can't have been you, her mother, or Ratchet who made her that way."

Thundercracker smirked at him and answered, "Nice attempt at diversion. Very tactical of you. Now answer the question."

Starscream huffed in irritation, and he finally yanked his arm out of Thundercracker's grasp. He leveled a narrow-eyed glare at him, and then he admitted in a growl, "Fine. If you _must_ know, the answer is yes, I _care_ about your daughter, Thundercracker. On a wide variety of levels. All right? Happy now?"

Without waiting for an answer, Starscream started walking again, and Thundercracker watched him walk away for a long moment. Again, Starscream's entire demeanor was one that Thundercracker had never seen in him, one that was full of reluctant sincerity, and again it was the reluctance that made his words ring true.

When Starscream was a dozen or so paces down the corridor, Thundercracker called out after him, "Actually, yes. I _am_ happy."

Starscream stopped in mid-stride and then turned on his heel to regard his wingmate in surprise. Thundercracker was giving him a look that was a mixture of relief and amusement. Starscream frowned in confusion at him and he said, intelligently, "You…are?"

Thundercracker shrugged mildly.

"Well, you certainly wouldn't have been my _first_ choice," he answered honestly. He took a moment to stroll across the distance that separated them, his hands clasped serenely behind his back, and then he continued, "But like you said, choice wasn't exactly involved here. But if you're not lying to me, and you really _do_ care about her…then that means that you won't hurt her. In _any_ way. And if you don't hurt her, then I won't have to hurt you. And _that_ makes me happy."

Starscream folded his arms over his chest and scoffed, "Was that supposed to be a threat?"

Thundercracker shook his head, shrugged, and answered mildly, "Not at all. Just a promise."

"Hah!" Starscream scoffed again. "It's not as if she needs help when it comes to retaliating when she's been hurt. You saw what she did to Megatron. Besides, if I were to hurt her, I'd have four very large and very displeased Dinobots breathing down my neck, and one of them would be doing so with fire. _One _of them, much less _four_ of them, could do a lot more damage than _you_ could do even in your wildest dreams."

Thundercracker grimaced and said, simply, "True."

A moment of silence stretched between them, and then Starscream murmured, his voice lowered in such a way that no one could hear what he said other than Thundercracker, "You needn't worry, though. Any of you. I have no intention of hurting Swoop in any way. In fact…I do believe that I would die for her," he finished, and the look on his face was odd, as if he'd just at that moment realized that he would do exactly that.

In response, Thundercracker simply gaped at him.

"Oh, why the shocked look?" Starscream irritably asked of him, chafing at his amazement. "Dying for her is what I'm _supposed_ to do, isn't it?"

And with that, before Thundercracker could say anything, Starscream spun away from Thundercracker and stalked off down the corridor. This time, Thundercracker didn't follow him, and he didn't say anything to stay him, either. He just gaped after Starscream for a long time, standing there in the middle of the corridor. A few stray passersby gave him odd looks as he stood there, still thinking long after Starscream was out of sight, but he ignored them all. And then, eventually, he slowly shook his head at no one and nothing.

"Well, well," he murmured bemusedly to himself. "My daughter _is_ an amazing individual, indeed." And then with slightly lighter steps he, too, continued down the corridor, off to see to his next distasteful task.


	4. Chapter 4

_It figures that there'd be some kind of meltdown here juuuuust when I was ready to post this. *laughs* But, now that I can log in again, I can post this. :)_

_Of all the chapters of this "story," I guess this one in its last third or so gives the most hints of some Things To Come…but probably not in any really obvious way. *laughs* Suffice it to say that the concept of "genetic memory" fascinates me, and I actually think that the general concept, "fantasy-ized," could be especially applicable to robotic lifeforms. So, such a concept plays a heavy part in future events of this 'verse, and its first appearance, in a way, is here._

_I should also mention that this chapter references something set up in another little story of mine, specifically one of the "100 Dinobots" series, specifically the one written for the "Pet" prompt. It's very briefly referenced at the end of "What Goes Around," actually, but is more directly referenced here. In any case, in that little story, I set up the notion that Grimlock, as part of his general (over)protective nature as I see it, has sort of taken it upon himself to protect and give refuge to wildlife, specifically individual animals directly affected by the Autobot/Decepticon conflict and, more generally, species that humans have caused to become endangered. Why? Well, for one thing, because doing so annoys the holy living hell out of Optimus Prime, which is one of Grimlock's main life ambitions. :) So, that's where one bit in this chapter came from, which might make no sense to you if you haven't read that little story o' mine. But now you don't have to read it, if you haven't done so/don't want to. ;)_

_Other than that…**Thornwitch**, your wish is apparently my command. :) Well, OK, so this was already the next chapter of the "story" before you said anything, but it just amused me that you were wishing to see Wheeljack and Ratchet when they were, indeed, next up. I *heart* them. Totally. On many different levels._

_Finally, some review replies are below for those who might wish to read them. But first, the story. :)_

* * *

Wheeljack was cursing quietly but fiercely. He was lying on his back, buried chest-deep into and underneath the guts of a diagnostic computer that was an integrated component of one of the medical berths. Various bits and pieces of the computer as well as chunks of the berth itself were scattered haphazardly in a wide and messy arc around him; they'd landed wherever he'd blindly and with increasing frustration tossed them. He was trying to track down a glitch that First Aid had reported to him, and the procedure was proving far more difficult, not to mention infuriating, than he'd thought possible, and that in turn had prompted his spate of rare-for-him cursing. So when he heard the medbay doors parting, Wheeljack almost welcomed the interruption, and he scooted out from the suffocating embrace of the recalcitrant berth with something that approached alacrity.

Still, he was surprised, almost flabbergasted, by what he saw.

"What're _you_ doing here?" he asked, truly bewildered, of Ratchet.

Ratchet just gave him A Look.

"Unless someone else has finally gone 'round the bend and decided that _they_ want the damned place," he grumbled, "this is still _my_ medbay."

"Well, yeah," Wheeljack responded, "but—"

"I needed some stuff," Ratchet interrupted, although he didn't seem in any kind of hurry to set about gathering any "stuff." He just stood there, glancing around the medbay with an odd, perhaps relieved, expression on his face. Wheeljack gazed at him searchingly for a moment, narrow-eyed and speculative.

"And you couldn't have just sent for it or something?" he eventually asked. "You had to come pick it up in person?"

Ratchet smirked at him and said, simply, "Respectively, no and yes."

Wheeljack just shook his head in response, not for the first time wishing that he could roll his eyes like the humans could. He'd become, over the years, certain that the ability would be very useful when it came to dealing with Ratchet, in particular.

"Whatever," he said dismissively. He made a move to go back to his utterly exasperating repair job, but Ratchet chose that moment to heave a long sigh and then to hitch himself up onto the berth next to the one that Wheeljack was so industriously ripping apart.

"Actually," he quietly confessed as he did so, with definite relief in his voice, "I just needed a break from the Den of Iniquity."

Wheeljack, amused, leaned back against the mostly-dismantled base of the berth behind him.

"Really now?" he asked lightly as he canted his face upward in order to meet Ratchet's gaze. "'Cuz the word around here seems to be that the Constructicons are set to gain a seventh member any day now."

"Hah!" Ratchet scoffed. And then he grumbled, "Y'know, Starscream's much-too-big mouth in combination with Swoop's much-too-strong penchant for gossiping is a _serious_ threat to the universe's sanity."

Wheeljack snickered.

"Besides," Ratchet continued, "purple and seizure-inducing lime green? Seriously, who the hell thought that _that_ was a good idea?"

Wheeljack made a vague gesture at their surroundings and answered, "Maybe the same person who thought that floor-to-ceiling orange was a good idea."

Ratchet grunted in agreement, and then there was a stretch of comfortable, companionable silence between them. Wheeljack was just about to go back to addressing the medberth's sundry issues when Ratchet spoke up again, this time saying with studied and very careful mildness, "So. How're the kids?"

Wheeljack gave Ratchet a measuring look for a moment, deeply suspecting that he was really only asking after one kid in particular. Still, he answered, "Well, he won't admit it, but Snarl's sort of despondent because his sparring partner's off having 'fun' at the Den of Iniquity. So he's been shooting stuff and trying to pick fights without actually saying anything, so guess how much success he's having?"

Ratchet snorted.

"And Sludge…is Sludge," Wheeljack continued. "He seems to be channeling his inner Michelangelo because he's decided that the ceiling in the Control Room is in desperate need of a makeover. He just marched in there the other day and went to work."

Ratchet chortled at that.

"Would've liked to have seen Prowl's face," he commented.

"Mmm," Wheeljack agreed with a nod. "Didn't see it myself, but Bluestreak told me that Jazz told him that Ironhide told _him_ that it was quite the Kodak moment. Especially once Optimus decided and then announced that a makeover was a smashing idea."

"Poor Prowl," Ratchet commented, chuckling merrily and not even trying to hold back a not-very-sympathetic grin.

"One does tend to wonder how he manages to stay sane around here," Wheeljack lightly agreed with a nod. Then he added, "Oh, and Grimlock acquired another orphan a few days ago."

"Oh, Primus," Ratchet responded. "What now?" When Wheeljack just gave him a merry look in response, he wearily amended, "Tell me it wasn't an elephant."

Wheeljack snickered and answered, "No, but he _does_ so enjoy holding that notion over Optimus's head. No, it was a bird. A big, ugly vulture or something. It has a mangled wing, but Swoop's gone just _slightly_ maternal over it, and she's insisting that the thing's gonna fly again if it kills her. So Grim's got a partner in crime with this one…"

"And Swoop?" Ratchet prompted a few moments after Wheeljack's voice trailed off.

Wheeljack gave him an uncertain look.

"Well, you've talked to her practically every day," he pointed out.

"Yes, I have," Ratchet answered with a nod. "But she doesn't really _say_ anything, and over the comm it's hard to read between the lines. I'm…worried about her," he admitted, and such admissions from him were few and far between.

"Mmm," Wheeljack murmured in agreement, suddenly realizing that needing a break from Decepticon Headquarters likely wasn't the only reason for Ratchet's sudden and unannounced visit. When he said nothing else, though, Ratchet heaved an impatient sigh.

"So?" he prompted.

"Well, physically she's fine," Wheeljack reported after a moment of thought, opting to address the aspect that he could address most confidently. "I mean, she gets tired easily and often, but I'm thinking that that's normal. Cold seems to be bothering her more than usual, though, and I don't know what's with that…but that's not what you want to know, is it?" he asked when he noticed the somewhat impatient look on Ratchet's face.

"No," Ratchet answered quietly.

Wheeljack sighed. He picked up a piece of the diagnostic computer that happened to be lying on the floor within arm's reach and idly toyed with it, the better not to look Ratchet in the face as he spoke.

"I really don't know what to tell you, Ratch," Wheeljack confessed. "I can only say that you're not the only one who's worried. I'm worried. Grimlock's in full-on mama bear mode over her, so watch out. _Prowl's_ expressed some concern for her here and there. I even get the sense that _Optimus_ is worried about her, from the odd way that he looks at her sometimes." Ratchet snorted at that as Wheeljack continued, "She covers up whatever she's feeling with the snark thing – and I can't _imagine_ who she got _that_ tendency from – but I'm pretty sure that things bother her _way_ more than she lets on and that she's having some…difficulties. But even if that's so, she won't talk about it. At least, not with _me_. Not with _us_," he finished bitterly, and then he tossed the piece of the computer he'd been playing with aside.

"Thundercracker," Ratchet guessed flatly.

"Mmm," Wheeljack wordlessly grumbled as he met Ratchet's troubled gaze. Then he added, "First Starscream, now him. Is it wrong of me to be…I dunno…insanely jealous, maybe? And resentful. Not to mention really, _really_ worried about the whole…thing," he finished, making a vague waving gesture in the air.

Ratchet grimaced.

"Well, even if it's wrong," he answered, "I'm jealous, resentful, and really worried right there with you, 'Jack."

"You didn't screw up on those tests, did you?" Wheeljack asked. "I mean, you're positive that he really is her…her…"

"Yes, he is," Ratchet answered as Wheeljack sputtered helplessly. "I ran the tests four times just to be sure that I _didn't_ screw up."

"And that sort of thing can't be…faked, maybe?" Wheeljack asked.

Ratchet smiled at him almost patronizingly.

"No," he answered firmly. "And even if it could be, what on Earth would he gain by doing so?"

Wheeljack sighed and then buried his face in his hands.

"Nothing," he admitted grudgingly. "Besides driving you and me crazy, that is."

"Pfft," Ratchet scoffed. "You're already crazy."

"Said the kettle to the pot," Wheeljack peevishly amended, lifting his head to give Ratchet an annoyed glare.

Ratchet frowned at him…but he didn't argue the point. Instead, he sighed and said, "Really, when all is said and done, I suppose that we have reason to be thankful to him." When Wheeljack only blinked in response, befuddled and perhaps a bit scandalized, Ratchet quietly added, "If it weren't for what he did, she wouldn't be who she is…and she wouldn't be ours."

Wheeljack blinked again and then faintly murmured, "I suppose so." He paused to consider the implications of what Ratchet had said, and then he shook his head as he decided, "Nope. Still jealous, resentful, and worried."

Ratchet chuckled quietly and said, "Me, too. So…Where is she?"

"Right now?" Wheeljack asked. At Ratchet's nod, he blinked, thought for a moment, and then answered, "Well, it's almost 1300, so she's probably napping."

And then Swoop walked into the medbay.

"Or not," Wheeljack amended mildly.

Swoop stopped in her tracks as she took in the tableau before her, and then she gave Ratchet a look and asked, unwittingly echoing Wheeljack, "What're _you_ doing here?"

Ratchet made an exasperated noise and countered, "I _live_ here."

"Really?" Swoop responded mildly. "Could've fooled me."

Ratchet emitted another exasperated noise and reminded her, "I've not even been gone two weeks."

"Mmmm," Swoop responded. "Feels more like two years."

"Time flies when you're having fun," Wheeljack quipped.

Swoop gave him an amused look and then moved toward the berth that Ratchet was sitting on. She climbed up onto it and then wordlessly and unceremoniously snuggled up to Ratchet, wrapping herself around him and heaving a very contented sigh once she'd settled herself.

Wheeljack and Ratchet exchanged a surprised look; Swoop had always been of a more tactile bent and had even been accused by a number of individuals, including Starscream, of being downright cuddly. Usually when she felt a need to be cuddly, she sought out a brother or Wheeljack as an outlet, mostly because she knew that Ratchet, like Slag, wasn't the cuddly sort, that cuddliness tended to make him uncomfortable more than anything else. At the moment, she didn't seem to care, and Ratchet seemed to understand her need. Wheeljack found it all deeply amusing.

Swoop, meanwhile, murmured at Ratchet as if in explanation, "Missed you."

Ratchet smiled affectionately and murmured back, "Missed you, too, Wingnut."

"How long can you stay?" she asked quietly.

Ratchet sighed and answered, "Not long, I'm afraid. The big powwow's scheduled to happen soon, once they either find or give up looking for the Combaticons. And I just have this crazy feeling that there'll be bloodshed."

Swoop grimaced unhappily and murmured, "Mmm."

"But in the meantime…" Ratchet said. "How're you doing, Swoop?"

Swoop looked up at him then, frowning at him questioningly at the change of subject. The first thing that she thought to say was simply to tell him the truth, and she almost started to blurt out thoughtless words, as usual. She stopped herself only when it occurred to her that she couldn't quite put all of it into words, especially not on such short notice.

Some things would have been easy to explain, to articulate, because some things that were bothering her were obvious and, more importantly, understandable. Much of it had to do with making the adjustment, the transition, from one sort of existence to an entirely different and far more daunting sort of existence. Some of it had to do with a natural fear and anxiety surrounding her impending motherhood. Some of it had to do with her unease at the new way that most of those around her were starting to treat her and her increasing feelings of isolation, of different-ness, because of it. It was a completely new sort of isolation and different-ness than that which she had always felt, just because she was a Dinobot, and she didn't know how to handle it yet.

Those things, Swoop knew, were all understandable. Clear. Easily comprehensible. They all made sense and because of that, she could deal with them all, _would_ deal with them all, given time to do so. She just had to remind herself constantly that this was all new and that she had to give herself some slack. She knew that things would improve and become more comfortable as time went on and she settled more firmly into her new role in life.

But other things that were troubling her made no sense to Swoop at all, and they only seemed to be making increasingly less sense as time went on. Those things existed under the surface, not entirely in her conscious mind, but they were definitely there. They came to her mostly when she was exhausted but yet couldn't settle into recharge, usually because of the tumult going on inside of her body as her son developed. At those times, she tended to drift in a thick, cloying fog that wasn't quite sleep but that also wasn't quite wakefulness. It was a state in which conscious and subconscious tended to collide and then messily half-merge. In such a state, that which was buried tended to emerge for a while, and it could be examined during that time, until it was re-interred beneath the trials and tribulations of everyday, waking, conscious life.

Swoop had come to believe that what she experienced at those times were memories. What was troubling was that, if she was correct, they were memories that quite obviously weren't her own. They were strange recollections of things that, from what little context she could discern, had obviously happened well before she had existed even the first time around and, in some cases, that had occurred in places where she had never been. It was mostly a collection of vague, phantom sensory input. There were sequences of visual images, some clear and some grossly distorted. There were stray smells and sounds and even some tactile input. And, just within the last few days, voices had started to come to her, too. They murmured and whispered at her, with a level of urgency that slightly increased each time that she experienced them. Although she usually couldn't catch the words – or, when she could catch them, the words were merely gibberish to her – she knew with a strange and disquieting certainty that they were trying to tell her something, perhaps to warn her about something. Something, she was certain, that was _very_ important.

But what? More than that, Swoop wondered how she could be certain that she wasn't simply going crazy, cracking under the strain of her situation and having wild, fevered hallucinations as a result. And even if she wasn't going crazy, how, she wondered, was she supposed to put any of what she was experiencing into words? She couldn't. She _hadn't_. Not to anyone. And she found that she couldn't do so now, either, not even for the benefit of the two individuals who, apart from her Dinobot brothers, knew her best and cared about her the most.

So she said instead, determined to convince herself, if no one else, that it was true, "I'm fine."

And then it was Ratchet who was wishing for the eye-rolling ability.

"Sweet Primus, Swoop," he said exasperatedly, "_please_ don't start emulating Prowl. Bad enough that Slag does it."

"I'm not," Swoop insisted, scowling and pulling away from Ratchet. "I really am _fine_."

She might have convinced someone who didn't know her well. As it was, there was a slight, only barely detectable tremor in her voice that Wheeljack nevertheless easily picked up on and that set off warning bells in his processors. In response to it, he hauled himself up onto his knees and then laid a comforting hand on Swoop's leg. Once he did so, he could feel the tension coiling within her, and that, along with the tremor in her voice, completely belied her assertion that she was fine.

"Little Bit," Wheeljack said quietly, reassuringly, "you've been through…a lot. I mean, I can't even imagine it. Your life's been turned upside-down, and it's perfectly natural to be…overwhelmed. Upset. Afraid. We just want to help, that's all. Talk to us, please."

Swoop blinked down at Wheeljack's face, taking in the naked and deep concern that was radiating from every inch of him. Concern from Wheeljack wasn't unusual. He had always been protective of her and her brothers, perhaps even overprotective, but that wasn't necessarily surprising given what had happened early on in their lives. Swoop knew that his normal protectiveness was now, quite understandably, ramped up a few more notches where she was concerned. And Swoop didn't like worrying him, most of all didn't like hurting him. Unbidden, something that she'd said to Thundercracker not even twenty-four hours before suddenly came back to her. She'd told Thundercracker that not talking to Skywarp was hurting Skywarp, and the irony of her words was not lost upon her now, for the same could easily be said to her about not talking, at least not _really_ talking, to Wheeljack. Or to Ratchet.

So, Swoop pulled in a huge, steadying breath, and she murmured to Wheeljack, almost too softly to hear, "It's hard. Everything. It's just…so hard now." Her voice started shaking then, in earnest, and she found herself confessing, "And…And on top of everything else, I think I'm going crazy. I think…I…Oh, Primus help me."

And that was all that Wheeljack needed to hear. He wrapped his arms around her, pulled her gently off the berth that she'd been sitting on, and then gathered her against him. He cradled her, rocking her like the child that she still was in so many ways. She clung to him gratefully in return, and Wheeljack held her, offering her comfort and reassurance, whispering to her, encouraging her to talk, to just let it all out, telling her that doing so would make her feel better.

Ratchet watched Swoop shaking in Wheeljack's arms. He listened to what Swoop said and listened to Wheeljack crooning comfortingly to her in response, reassuring her that she wasn't losing her mind.

And he murmured, more to himself than to either of them, "Yeah. Think I'll stay for a day or five."

* * *

_Now, as promised/threatened, review replies. Apologies for length, as usual. Feel free to skip, if you're uninterested in my blather._

_**Lily Avalon (who also left a review for "What Goes Around"): **__I'm really glad that you stuck with and ended up enjoying that story. (As well as this one, so far; I love the concept of "storyteller TC," too. :) ) I agree that jumping right in makes the story more difficult…but really, that's kind of how I wanted it. AUs, in my opinion, can get totally bogged down in initial exposition. It's sort of the nature of the beast, necessary in order to set things up, but I wanted to avoid that as much as possible. Or at least I wanted to incorporate the necessary exposition seamlessly into the narrative as much as possible. It's a risk, of course; I'm sure lots of people become confused and lose interest before they can get into it, even though the story does have some "non-integrated" exposition, in its prologue. Looking at the story's statistics, the first non-prologue chapter does get the most hits…but it's hard to know if that's because people lost interest or if they were only interested in the "sex" in the first place. *laughs*_

_In any case, if I can corrupt people with new OTPs, then that makes me very happy. These two are certainly one of mine, now…although I think you're totally right in that it only works in this context. Especially for me, actually, since I'm generally not a fan of cross-faction stuff. (Other than Starscream/Skyfire, I suppose…but to me that's not really cross-faction.) And for me it was (and continues to be) something of a challenge to write romance-but-not-really-romance. My natural tendency is to err on the side of mush, with all sorts of mushy build-up to eventual gushy proclamations of undying love and such. That doesn't really work for this 'verse because the situation is not…well, normal. :) But that, too, makes this fun for me to write._

_**Vivienne Grainger, to whom I still owe a PM despite your protests otherwise:**__ You know, it's a fine line to walk, with Starscream. It's a challenge to change him yet keep him recognizably "himself." I mean, it's an AU; I could turn him into someone who ballet dances and randomly spouts love poetry, if I want to. But even though it's an obvious AU where some things, including the entire backstory, are _very_ different, one of my "goals," I guess, is to keep it at least tenuously grounded in the "real" universe. Especially in the sense of creating and injecting what I think are logical reasons for the things that intrigue me about the "real" universe, and even to justify those things that make no sense to me._

_I mean, just the fact that Megatron is usually portrayed as "evil because he's evil" doesn't sit well with me. That's fairytale stuff. Or at best comic book stuff. And while I know the canon has some comic book roots, of course, it still doesn't sit well with me. So, I gave Megatron an actual cause. A quasi-noble and legitimate one, even, but one that went astray over time. Then there's Thundercracker's doubts. I always wondered why he hung around if he really had such things. I mean, I didn't see him as "going noble" and switching sides so much as just one day standing up and saying, "Screw you all!" and then taking off on his own. So, again, I gave him a reason to stay. Several of them, actually. And an upcoming biggie is addressing the relationship between Megatron and Starscream. I've always thought that Screamer would not have the position that he has unless there had been some hefty mutual respect and trust between him and Megatron at some point in time. Something obviously went wrong along the way, and now I can explore that within the context of this 'verse. And then…Then there's Optimus Prime. And Alpha Trion. Heeheeheeheeheehee… OK, I'll stop manically giggling like Tarantulas now…_

_But _anyway_…Yeah, fine line to walk. I want to change some aspects of Starscream, for various reasons, but it has to be done carefully, I think, in order to keep him believable and recognizable along the way. Fortunately, the thing with Swoop gives me _quite_ a bit of latitude. *laughs* And the first step, as you mentioned, is to add a bit of transparency and introspection to him…and then to shock the hell out of others with it._

_**Thornwitch: **__Gosh,__I'm so glad that you appreciate characterization. :) Because really, I consider it the only thing that I do well. I have difficulty coming up with huge, plotty stories that aren't…Well, stupid. The one for this 'verse is probably the least-stupid one (I hope!) that I've ever come up with. But I love, love, __**love**__ to dig into and pick apart the mind and motivations of a character who intrigues me for whatever reason. In fact, that's the very reason that I'm a Transformers fan. I'm really not "into" robots or science fiction in general. For me, Transformers simply has a boatload of otherwise barely-defined characters who have these intriguing little built-in "hooks" to them, and that's what draws me in and makes it so that I can't walk away even when I try to. Plus, it has dinosaurs of a sort. ;)_

_And yeah, for all that this Swoop in this 'verse is essentially a child in many ways, a curious mix of strength and vulnerability, I want her and Starscream to have a "grown-up" kind of relationship because it isn't something you often see in fanfic, and not just TF fanfic. Particularly, it seems to me that you don't often see it with Starscream, where he's often either dominated/brutalized, willingly or otherwise (or, sometimes, being a brutalizer himself), or he's being taken care of by someone who's trying to make his issues all better. (Which isn't a judgment or a criticism, mind you; I've done both, at the same time, myself. *laughs*) I just wanted a bit of "now for something completely different" here. Essentially, I've always had this fangirlish desire to turn Starscream into something of a complex but issue-less mature-grown-up "alpha male" __**without**__ giving him his fondest wish (i.e. being "leader of the Decepticons," because having isn't nearly as fun as wanting) and without turning him into a tyrant in his own turn. Indulging that desire was, of course, one of the driving forces behind the creation of this 'verse._

_And then there's Thundercracker, yes. Over the years, he eventually eclipsed Starscream and became my favorite character, and I just love playing with him in all sorts of different ways. The "dad thing" did indeed grow out of a desire to give him a logical, concrete reason for his nebulous canonical "doubts," but it grew from there to have all sorts of intriguing possibilities. If nothing else, it creates potential conflict between him and…Well, many characters, actually, and conflict is, IMO, always good. :)_

_**Ebony Kain: **__"Shotgun Thundercracker" is a fun image, isn't it? *laughs* If I was better at drawing, I'd draw it. Poor TC. He finds what he's long been looking for, only to discover that he has to share her with a bunch of other people in different ways. And the Dinobots…Well, if I were Starscream, I'd be afraid. _Very_ afraid. *laughs*_


End file.
